Minister Wavers on Plans to Burn Koran

First, Terry Jones, the Florida pastor who set the world on edge with plans to burn copies of the Koran on Sept. 11, said Thursday that he had canceled his demonstration because he had won a promise to move the proposed Islamic center near ground zero to a new location.

Then, hours later, after learning that the project’s leaders in New York had said that no such deal existed, Mr. Jones backed away from his promise and said the bonfire of sacred texts was simply “suspended.”

The sudden back and forth suggested that the controversy ”” the pastor drew pointed criticisms from President Obama and an array of leaders, officials and celebrities in the United States and abroad ”” was not yet finished even after multiple appearances before the news media on the lawn of his small church.

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Posted in * Christian Life / Church Life, * Culture-Watch, * Economics, Politics, * Religion News & Commentary, Islam, Media, Other Faiths, Parish Ministry, Politics in General, Religion & Culture

15 comments on “Minister Wavers on Plans to Burn Koran

  1. Sick & Tired of Nuance says:

    I keep hearing about how the planned Koran burnings are putting the lives of our troops in danger. Let’s stop and think about that for a moment.

    Aren’t there still troops fighting against muslim extremists in Iraq? Didn’t they just have a fierce battle in Baghdad on September 5th…days after the announcement that there were no more “combat troops” in Iraq? Aren’t there still fierce battles happening between US forces and Afghanistan’s muslim extremists? Isn’t Iran still working to create a nuclear arsenal and aren’t they threatening to unleash it against Israel? Aren’t muslim extremists still strapping explosives to their bodies and killing innocents all over the world? Aren’t muslim extremists murdering Christians all over Africa, the Mid-East, and South East Asia? Didn’t muslim extremists murder fellow muslims on 9/11?

    I wonder if there were any Korans in either of the twin towers on September 11th, when muslim extremists drove fully loaded passenger jets into them and created an inferno? I wonder how many Korans were burned in that act by muslim extremists? Where is the outcry? Where were the demonstrations by all the peace-loving muslims when the “extremists” murdered so many in the name of Allah? There are street riots about a pastor in Florida talking about burning a Koran…where were the street riots protesting the extremist muslims that murder in the name of Allah…isn’t that a blasphemy, or is it acceptible to all those muslims that are now protesting the proposed Koran burning?

    What is more holy, paper and ink with the words of the Koran printed on them or people with the image of God? Yet, the protests are wild and against the former, while there are NONE against the latter! So, to all the “moderate” and “peace-loving” muslims out there…why the silence? Why were you silent when your fellow muslims committed mass murder in the name of your god? Why were you silent when your fellow muslims danced in the streets and handed out candy to their children to celebrate the murder of thousands of innocent Americans, including many muslims? Why are you not protesting your fellow muslims when they murder in the Sudan in the name of Allah? Are they not blaspheming your god when they do such things…if indeed Islam is a religion of peace as is claimed?

    From my perspective, Islam is fostering hatred, bloodshed, and war everywhere it comes into contact with non muslims. You can point to the crusades and say Christians do it too (which is interesting since muslims used war to expand into the Christian territories that were being disputed)…but does that 500-year-old history justify the islamic terrorist actions of today? Do two wrongs make a right?

    So, maybe the Koran burning is not the right thing to do, but it does show Islam for what it is. Muslims will murder innocents in one country to protest a cartoon done in another country on the other side of the globe. Muslims will murder innocents all over the world with or without provocation. They will strap bombs to their own children to murder innocents. They will donate money to the “martyrs” families, supporting those that strap bombs on their own children to murder innocents. They have been doing so all along, long before there were any folks talking of burning a Koran. They have been doing so without any street protests by all the peace-loving muslims. They have done so and they will continue to do so. The muslim extremists will continue to murder until they are dead themselves, and the peace-loving muslims will still remain silent. What changes if the pastor in Florida decides not to burn the Koran? The muslim extremists will continue their murderous ways and the “peaceful” muslims will continue their silence (tacit support).

    So, I say…burn it.

  2. David Wilson says:

    FWIW, none of the three evangelical diocesan bishops, Ken Clarke, Ken Good or Harold Miller signed this.

  3. David Wilson says:

    Oops. commented on the wrong posting. Sorry

  4. Billy says:

    #1, I was with you up to your last line. I see no need or reason to burn Korans. But you point is well made. If Islamic extremists burned Bibles or even just New Testaments in any other part of the world, Christians would not rise up and kill innocent Muslims. Similarly, we are now hearing from the NYC Imam that if he were to move the site of his planned Cordova House, there will be riots and death from Muslims all over the world. If Cordova House is built on the same place will Christians riot and kill all over the world. We and the rest of the world cannot ignore this sort of immature and dangerous conduct on the part of Islam. If Islam is, indeed, a peaceful religion, so-called moderates have got to speak out and begin to do something about this extreme behavior. Otherwise, the non-Islamic world is going to have to do something about it, which will ultimately include the so-called moderates.

    And we in the US have got to regain our footings. I’m hearing our government leaders and our news media saying that this preacher in FL will have the blood of innocents on his shoulders for burning Korans. NO! The Islamic extremists who riot over the burning of replaceable books will have that blood on their hands – we have to get back to the idea of personal responsibility. Yes, Koran burning is insensitive and not particularly intelligent, IMO. But it does not kill anyone. Irrational extremists are the ones doing that, and we have got to acknowledge that and say it, and quit cow-towing to such irrational behavior by our government and religious leaders.

  5. Sick & Tired of Nuance says:

    [b]Christians in Gaza Fear for Their Lives as Muslims Burn Bibles and Destroy Crosses [/b]
    http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/285123/christians_in_gaza_fear_for_their_lives.html

    So, where were the muslim protestors over these actions? The silence of the muslim majority is tacit support for the actions done in the name of their god. There were and are no muslims taking to the streets to protest the desecration of Bibles done by muslim extremists.

    Burn it.

  6. Ad Orientem says:

    Winter may yet be a ways off, but clearly there is at least one flake already in Florida.

  7. Chris Molter says:

    #6, if that species of flake portended a real winter, it’d be snowing year round here in Sunshine State 😉

  8. Larry Morse says:

    #5, And yet, this is something Muslims do, not something Americans do. We can more clearly see our separation in this. That there is a double standard, no one doubts any more, do they? But this is precisely what we should expect, isn’t it?
    You know, the present problem is, for me, like the problem presented by homosexuality and its related issues. In the past, my tolerance for this latter was very high because I could see no reason why it should not be. I had hired homosexuals and the results were unpleasant at the best, but i thought that I should not condemn the many because of the few. And yet, as ssm raised its ugly head, the more I learned, the more disgusted I became; the more I knew, the lower my tolerance. I no longer worried about being a bigot, I worried about becoming a patsy, a sucker, a coward, because political correctness and the pressure from the Cultural Elite were making me
    submit to what I simply refused to condone for sounder and sounder reasons.
    And so it was and is with Islam. Knowledge is supposed to produce tolerance. Not so here. I see now that my faith in Islam’s essential social and religious compatibility with American values is unsound, the product of ignorance and a slack refusal to see clearly. Larry

  9. jkc1945 says:

    Our “super-tolerance” here in the United States has blinded us to one critical fact: there is no “radical” Islam. There is no “moderate” Islam. There is only Islam. And, sooner or later, as someone in this thread has already said, we are going to have to directly deal with that fact very directly and without hesitation. Once we figure this out, as a nation and as a society, we are going to have to get on it, quickly, or we stand to lose this republic. And we don’t have a long time left to get it together.

  10. John Wilkins says:

    #9 what are you talking about? Are there muslims at your door? Or is this propaganda? I admit, I’m struck by your statement “there is only Islam.” It’s like saying Quakers and Roman Catholics are the same brand of Christian. There’s secular Turks, Syrians and Iranians; there are fundamentalist Afghans; ambivalent Indonesians and Moroccans; and passionate Saudis. They each practice differently. That’s the evidence (not that the evidence matters).

    What is certainly true is that burning the Koran in the US is cowardice. It’s like picking a fight from several thousand miles away. If they really wanted to make a statement, do it in a Muslim country.

    Then of course, the Arab Christians would pay the consequences, not self-righteous Americans.

  11. alcuin says:

    “If they really wanted to make a statement, do it in a Muslim country.

    Then of course, the Arab Christians would pay the consequences, not self-righteous Americans.”

    So what you’re saying is that many Muslims – or many who share that name and ndeed lead them -are bullies and potential murderers of their fellow non-Muslim citizens. Now you are beginning to recognize the real problem afflciting the world: a huge culture of great irrationality,violence and oppression that holds many millions in bondage and theatens many millions more.
    Thank you for speaking up for human rights!

  12. Tired of Hypocrisy says:

    Does burning a Koran tick off Muslims? Yes. Is burning books to inflame hate a good thing to do? No. But, it is ridiculous that a U.S. President, Secretary of State, and Army Commander (Petraeus)–to name only a few who took the bait–have given this the time of day. Look how quickly they kowtow, how they rush to appease violent oppressors. Those who whine that burning a Koran endangers U.S. troops insults those who have sacrificed to defend our freedoms. Do they think our soldiers paid a price so we could cringe and cower every time someone threatens to hurt Americans over a pecadillo like this, mean-spirited or otherwise? Does anyone really think the Taliban are waiting for an excuse to kill people? Having said all this, I would respect a statement more like this from a U.S. leader: “There are thousands upon thousands of Muslims who stand shoulder-to-shoulder with us at home and around the world, who fight side-by-side with our soldiers every single day to ensure that we do not have to live in fear of violence against innocent people over religious differences. In honor of these our friends and allies, we abhor any action that shows disrespect for their cherished beliefs. And for those who would use this as an excuse for violence, we are not afraid of you. Good men and women have fought ’til their last breath to protect our freedoms and we will never let them down by submitting to your threats and oppression.”

  13. Choir Stall says:

    For something that never happened, why were there so many death threats to Pastor Jones & his church, riots around the world, and the usual suspects trying to defend what the eyes knew looked like violence? Islam is so predictable. It has exceptions but large segments pride themselves about living by the feud and they are scrapping for a fight anytime and anywhere about nearly anything.
    Yep, we can all rest soundly and talk reasonably to such people, can’t we?

  14. libraryjim says:

    It was pointed out on the radio today that almost every Christian leader across denominational lines condemned Rev. Taylor’s proposed Q’ran burning. But we have yet to see a majority of Imams come out and condemn extremist Muslim terrorism, suicide bombings, & violence against Christians.

    Makes you think.

  15. Sick & Tired of Nuance says:

    Islam is not a religion of peace.